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Here is a very short account of the reign of Jotham, a pious prosperous prince, of whom one would wish to have known more: but we may better dispense with the brevity of his story because that which lengthened the history of the last three kings was their degeneracy in their latter end, of which we have had a faithful account; but there was no occasion for such a melancholy conclusion of the history of this reign, which is only an account, I. Of the date and continuance of this reign (Ch2 27:1, Ch2 27:8). II. The general good character of it (Ch2 27:2, Ch2 27:6). III. The prosperity of it (Ch2 27:3-5). IV. The period of it (Ch2 27:7, Ch2 27:9).

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 27 This chapter treats of the reign of Jotham, which was a good one, Ch2 27:1, of his buildings and wars, Ch2 27:3, and of his death and burial, Ch2 27:7. INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 28 This chapter contains the reign of Ahaz, and gives an account of the idolatry he was guilty of, Ch2 28:1 what calamities came upon him and his people, being delivered up into the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel, who slew many, and carried others captives, Ch2 28:5, though they that were taken captive by Israel, at the admonition of a prophet, were sent back again, Ch2 28:9, how also he was distressed by the Edomites and Philistines, and not helped by the king of Assyria, he sent for and made presents to, Ch2 28:16 and yet went into more and greater idolatries, Ch2 28:22, and the chapter is concluded with his death and burial, Ch2 28:28.

So Jotham became mighty,.... Having built towers and castles, and fortified cities, and conquered his enemies: because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God; ordered, directed, and guided them according to the word and will of God, and walked as in the sight of God, having the fear of him continually before him.

Jotham succeeds his father Uzziah, and reigns well, Ch2 27:1, Ch2 27:2. His buildings, Ch2 27:3, Ch2 27:4. His successful wars, Ch2 27:5, Ch2 27:6. General account of his acts, reign, and death, Ch2 27:7-9.

He fought also with - the Ammonites - We find here that he brought them under a heavy tribute for three years; but whether this was the effect of his prevailing against them, is not so evident. Some think that they paid this tribute for three years, and then revolted; that, in consequence, he attacked them, and their utter subjection was the result.

JOTHAM, REIGNING WELL, PROSPERS. (Ch2 27:1-4) Jotham was twenty and five years old--(See on Kg2 15:32-35). His mother's name . . . Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok--or descendant of the famous priest of that name [Sa2 8:17].

HE SUBDUES THE AMMONITES. (Ch2 27:5-9) He fought also with the king of the Ammonites--This invasion he not only repelled, but, pursuing the Ammonites into their own territory, he imposed on them a yearly tribute, which, for two years, they paid. But when Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, combined to attack the kingdom of Judah, they took the opportunity of revolting, and Jotham was too distracted by other matters to attempt the reconquest (see on Kg2 15:37). Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 28

In the general statements as to the king's age, and the duration and the spirit of his reign, both accounts (Ch2 28:1-4; Kg2 16:1-4), agree entirely, with the exception of some unessential divergences; see the commentary on Kg2 16:1-4. From Ch2 28:5 onwards both historians go their own ways, so that they coincide only in mentioning the most important events of the reign of this quite untheocratic king. The author of the book of Kings, in accordance with his plan, records only very briefly the advance of the allied kings Rezin and Pekah against Jerusalem, the capture of the seaport Elath by the Syrians, the recourse which the hard-pressed Ahaz had to the help of Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria, whom he induced, by sending him the temple and palace treasures of gold and silver, to advance upon Damascus, to capture that city, to destroy the Syrian kingdom, to lead the inhabitants away captive to Kir, and to slay King Rezin (Ch2 28:5-9). Then he records how Ahaz, on a visit which he paid the Assyrian king in Damascus, saw an altar which so delighted him, that he sent a pattern of it to the priest Urijah, with the command to build a similar altar for the temple of the Lord, on which Ahaz on his return not only sacrificed himself, but also commanded that all the sacrifices of the congregation should be offered. And finally, he recounts how he laid violent hands on the brazen vessels of the court, and caused the outer covered sabbath way to be removed into the temple because of the king of Assyria (Ch2 28:10-18); and then the history of Ahaz is concluded by the standing formulae (Ch2 28:19, Ch2 28:20). The author of the Chronicle, on the contrary, depicts in holy indignation against the crimes of the godless Ahaz, how God punished him for his sins. 1. He tells us how God gave Ahaz into the hand of the king of Syria, who smote him and led away many prisoners to Damascus, and into the hand of King Pekah of Israel, who inflicted on him a dreadful defeat, slew 120,000 men, together with a royal prince and two of the highest officials of the court, and carried away 200,000 prisoners-women and children-with a great booty (Ch2 28:5-8); and how the Israelites yet, at the exhortation of the prophet Oded, and of some of the heads of the people who supported the prophet, again freed the prisoners, provided them with food and clothing, and conducted them back to Jericho (Ch2 28:9-15). 2. He records that Ahaz turned to the king of Assyria for help (Ch2 28:16), but that God still further humbled Israel by an invasion of the land by the Edomites, who carried prisoners away (Ch2 28:17); by an attack of the Philistines, who deprived Judah of a great number of cities (Ch2 28:18); and finally also by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser, who, although Ahaz had sent him the gold and silver of the temple and of the palaces of the kings and princes, yet did not help him, but rather oppressed him (Ch2 28:20.). 3. Then he recounts how, notwithstanding all this, Ahaz sinned still more against Jahve by sacrificing to the idols of the Syrians, cutting up the vessels of the house of God, closing the doors of the temple, and erecting altars and high places in all corners of Jerusalem, and in all the cities of Judah, for the purpose of sacrificing to idols (Ch2 28:22-25). This whole description is planned and wrought out rhetorically; cf. C. P. Caspari, der syrisch-ephraimitische Krieg, S. 42ff. Out of the historical materials, those facts which show how Ahaz, notwithstanding the heavy blows which Jahve inflicted upon him, always sinned more deeply against the Lord his God, are chosen, and oratorically so presented as not only to bring before us the increasing obduracy of Ahaz, but also, by the representation of the conduct of the citizens and warriors of the kingdom of Israel towards the people of Judah who were prisoners, the deep fall of that kingdom.

He made war upon the king of the Ammonites, and overcame them. The Ammonites had before paid tribute to Uzziah. After his death they would seem to have refused to pay this tribute; and Jotham made them again tributary by force of arms. They were compelled to pay him after their defeat, in that same year, 100 talents of silver, 10,000 cor of wheat, and a similar quantity of barley, as tribute. לו השׁיבוּ זאת: this they brought to him again, i.e., they paid him the same amount as tribute in the second and third years of their subjection also. After three years, consequently, they would seem to have again become independent, or refused the tribute, probably in the last years of Jotham, in which, according to Kg2 15:37, the Syrian king Rezin and Pekah of Israel began to make attacks upon Judah. Ch2 27:6-7 By all these undertakings Jotham strengthened himself, sc. in the kingdom, i.e., he attained to greater power, because he made his ways firm before Jahve, i.e., walked stedfastly before Jahve; did not incur guilt by falling away into idolatry, or by faithless infringement of the rights of the Lord (as Uzziah did by his interference with the rights of the priesthood). From the כּל־מלחמתיו in the concluding remark (Ch2 27:7) we learn that he had waged still other successful wars. The older commentators reckon among these wars, the war against Rezin and Pekah, which kings the Lord began in his days to send against Judah (see Kg2 15:37), but hardly with justice. The position of this note, which is altogether omitted in the Chronicle, at the end of the account of Jotham in Kg2 15:37, appears to hint that this war broke out only towards the end of Jotham's reign, so that he could not undertake anything important against this foe. Ch2 27:8-9 The repetition of the chronological statement already given in Ch2 27:1 is probably to be explained by supposing that two authorities, each of which contained this remark, were used.